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Billings Gazette, Mont., Jan Falstad column(Billings Gazette (MT) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 27--A MARKET TRANSFORMED: The outside of the giant building sports new paint. Electricians are busy installing massive power supplies. And newly dug trenches have stopped commuters from cutting across the parking lot to avoid road construction along Monad Road. The former County Market building at 1030 Central Ave., is being transformed from a vacant hulk into another supercooled, high-powered data center. "We build these facilities, provision power and cooling and make sure the power stays on even with an outage," iConnect Montana Executive Officer Mike Sheard said. IConnect has leased the building with an option to buy from Max and Jeanine Griffin, owners of Action Electric. The Griffins bought the building, which sits on an acre, after County Market closed in January 2006. IConnect is owned by three rural telephone companies and provides high-speed Internet connections for the telecoms and other customers. A decade ago, iConnect started business in one corner of the third floor of Granite Towers. Then the company pulled in a lot more power and took over the entire floor. Now, that space is too small, so iConnect is expanding and spending millions on the first phase of a four-phase County Market rehabilitation, including equipment. "We think by building this to a larger scale, we'll be supporting some other customers," Sheard said, adding that some companies don't want to be named because they want to keep their data center's location secret. Even iConnect wants to remain low-key and won't be installing exterior signs. "It's going to be a highly secure place with 24-hour security guards and landscaping around it," Sheard said. To illustrate the scope of the data center's electrical and cooling needs, Sheard said NorthWestern Energy is upgrading the power service from 800 amps to 3,000 amps in half the building. "NorthWestern has been fantastic to work with," he said. IConnect chose the Moore Lane location because it is close to one of NorthWestern's substations, which makes the upgrades less costly. In the second of four remodeling phases, another 3,000-amp service will be added to the other half of the building. "Ultimately, we may utilize 9 or 10 megawatts of power, which is a lot of power," Sheard said. The rows and rows of computer servers that will dot the floors that used to house grocery shelves generate so much heat, they require supercooling. "We had 110 tons of air conditioning on the third floor of Granite Tower and we're installing 400 tons of AC just in the first phase here," he said. With another data center being built at TransTech in west Billings, Sheard said there should be enough business to keep a specialized technician in Billings to tweak the equipment. Currently, the techs have to be flown in from cities like Denver. The trenches, by the way, were dug so companies could lay fiber-optic cable into the building from two directions. Then if one cable goes dead, there is backup service. Meanwhile, the Griffins also have run out of space for Action Electric at 1201 Montana Ave. They were going to remodel part of County Market for their own use and rent out the rest. Now they are working on architectural plans with Harrison Fagg & Associates for another building on a vacant lot in front of their current space. That's good news for Sheard. "Having our electrician right next door is exciting," he said. A LONG AND FRUITFUL LIFE: On Tuesday, The Copper Colander at 2440 Grant Road will throw a 100th birthday party at the store from noon to 3 p.m., for Vivian Larson, known as Nana. Nana still works in receiving at the store owned by her daughter, Sharon Culbertson. Then on Sunday, she'll be chauffeured around Billings in a Model T, a car that also turns 100 this year. This daughter of Swedish immigrants has written a fun and interesting history of her life, which can be read online. OUT AND ABOUT: --The Poly Food 10th Avenue Market is closed, but no one last week seemed to know what's become of the neighborhood grocery. --Meanwhile, the former tenant of the store, the Good Earth Market is selling unfrozen, certified organic beef from the B Bar Ranch in Big Timber. "It's fresh organic beef that I don't think you can buy anywhere else in town," said general manager Perry McNeese. "We had some friends over this weekend and cooked some up and it was delicious." Good Earth remodeled a building at 3024 Second Ave. N. and moved away from 10th Avenue in February 2006. --Chili's Grill & Bar and Romano's Macaroni Grill eateries are coming to Billings. The parent company of these two restaurant chains is Brinker International of Texas. A recorded message advertises Chili's "fresh and flavorful spiced-up dishes" and the "Marguarita Presidente." Maureen Locus, who works in public relations for Chili's in Dallas, said the Billings project is moving forward, but nothing has been finalized yet on a couple of proposed sites. A Great Falls company, Shoot the Moon, owns the Billings franchise rights. Shoot the Moon built a Chili's and adjoining Macaroni Grill in Great Falls last year. SCAMS DU JOUR: --When they learn better English and spelling, we'll all be in much more trouble. But for now the foreign scammers write humorous letters full of bad grammar while trying to get us to click on a Web site and part with our money. A Dr. Graham Robert claimed to be a banker from "The Great Britain" who wanted to transfer $18.5 million for clients who died in 2003. He was willing to split the money 50/40, with 10 percent for any expenses. A twist on this scam was that he wanted the recipient to click on a Web site with the words "Kenya" and "crash" to verify the "Geniuses of the Deceased." Then he provided a "personal" e-mail address, but asked the recipient not to respond. --The Better Business Bureau in Spokane, Wash., is warning about scam callers who falsely claim to be representing the BBB. The callers are telling people to call an 876 number because they have a package for them. If you call back, you'll be calling Jamaica and potentially racking up hundreds of dollars in phone charges. --Meanwhile, Billings resident Steve Schreder didn't bite when he received a $205,000 "check" from the Commerce Bank of Philadelphia. The apparent letter writer, Mike Williams, told him to cash the check to pay the taxes so he could collect a multimillion-dollar lottery prize from Sunlite Financial Inc. The check, of course, is bogus, and smart Schreder called the office of Consumer Protection in Helena. A GANDER AT GAS PRICES: Crude-oil future prices have dropped $20 from a record-topping $147 a barrel, yet there's little relief at the pump. The lowest price for a gallon of regular in Montana last week was $4.02 in Missoula and $4.05 in Lockwood, according to www.gasbuddy.com. The highest price reported to this site was $4.29 in Clyde Park, Plentywood and Harlowton. In Wyoming, Gillette drivers paid only $3.71 per gallon, compared to $4.29 in Cody and Powell and $4.39 in Pinedale, the highest price in the state. LAUGH LINES: What does it mean to be Irish? --At least one of your cousins is a fireman, cop, bar owner, funeral home owner or holds political office. And you have at least one aunt who is a nun or uncle who is a priest. --You may not know the words, but that doesn't stop you from singing. --You have Irish Alzheimer's: You forgot everything but the grudges. --And there wasn't a huge difference between your last wake and you last keg party. Contact Jan Falstad at [email protected] or 657-1306. To see more of the Billings Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.billingsgazette.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Billings Gazette, Mont. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |